Colin Powell

I wonder how many readers remember how and why the United States became involved in the costly Iraq disaster? We entered that war because of what some have called the "big lie," fabricated by Colin Powell, the retired army general turned secretary of state. Powell failed as a secretary of state because of his presentation to the United Nations when he convinced the world that he knew Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which proved to be totally false.

Unfortunately, George Bush bought into that fabrication and the results are well known. It cost the United States thousands of our young people to be killed and maimed, plus billions and billions of dollars, and that tremendous tragedy is one of the chief reasons we are in the current depression, causing suffering to millions of Americans and all because of the faulty vision of one Colin Powell.

Powell may have been a great general. I don't know, but I do know that he was not a great secretary of state. It is important to remember his record at this time because he has just been selected to become one of Barack Obama's top advisors and in all probability, the next secretary of defense.

What that means is that if the American people elect Obama, a man who has never held a meaningful job, he will be depending upon the advice of a man who made one of the largest blunders the world has ever witnessed.

Donald A. Pusey
Lake Placid